Prosperous & Creative Soul Year 4

savingholmes

Thanks KK, Lucielle, LWAP, Jwil, EH, Blackcats, TG, AK

Yes - the builder said he wanted to call me Mrs Potts as I had so many!! I gave the hardest workers a quiet tip earlier when the owner wasn't about as I thought today was the last day. The weather is miserable and wet though. I definitely have a better range of plants than some local garden centres as at Xmas they seem to strip right back to focus on xmas trees.

The tarmac is down but it left a slight ridge/join as they ran out part way through and there was a gap between applying more. They are trying to resolve that but time will tell whether they were successful. They've promised to apply some kind of bonding agent tomorrow. There's some bits that aren't perfect - but other areas like the landscaping where they went above and beyond my expectations. I've paid all but £500 as they're coming back tomorrow to finish some bits off. They hadn't tarmacked under the shed which they said on Saturday that they would or one back corner. They still need to patch some fence together. 

I'm a mix of hard line this is what I expect and goeey centre balancing that hardness with not wanting someone to suffer cashflow wise and go out of business. I suspect they aren't quite charging enough which is letting them win work but keeping them close to the wire. 

I need to return some items to the shop as I slightly over-bought yesterday. I reclaimed the sofa £120. I also ate out yesterday. This is my last week of reduced hours - and finishes with asbestos removal and meeting a friend for lunch Friday. I have that day off. I'm off next Monday while yet more workmen fit the floor. Then I finish on the 20th and have 2 weeks off for Xmas. Looking forward to the break.

savingholmes

I started my xmas gift wrapping yesterday which helped me see where what I'd bought for one person was out of balance compared with another. Also some things when I got them home didn't work as expected or were more expensive on the receipt than the shelf label - something that isn't always easy to spot at the time.

I've ripped one of my pairs of jeggings today which is a blow. Thankfully I had matching coloured tights underneath for warmth so hopefully no-one else noticed!!

savingholmes

I need to go out soon and return some things to BnM and the R&ng3

I bought a few choices of outdoor electrical extension sockets from Am - and I need to decide which will work best for me and whether to return any. I can then hopefully get my outdoor lights up.

I've had £75 cashback from Am since getting my new card but that's probably not a good sign! £50 was the initial sign up deal but even so £25 in 3 months or less seems a lot.

My utility switch never happened - so I need to chase that / restart that process / complain.... 

The water people said I don't use enough water to qualify for disability related help. 

Good news
I got about £89 in interest on my ISA today - but now need to decide where to transfer my £ to. I'm going to have to keep a little back due to the floor work but potentially looking at Mbx at 5.17%. 

My mortgage went out today so principal reduced by around £650. I should get my annual statement soon. It's annoying (and demotivating not being able to see it in an app).

jwil

That's frustrating about not being able to see your mortgage online, it should be standard these days!

savingholmes

I agree Jwil - and I only found out afterwards. I nearly fell off my chair at the time!

I've 'crashed' mentally this evening - so not going to return anything tonight. My legs are like jelly again. I stayed up later than I should have yesterday as I wanted to hoover the living room and make it more respectable. (You know around 1 to 1.30am... roll eyes at self). I still set my alarm for 8 but it was so hard to get up. I nipped to Sainsbugs for extra tip £ and some doughnuts and stuff before work too. 

When my DS did his school work experience - he was hoping to become a doctor but couldn't get extended experience doing that - so I suggested he was a labourer for the period - as I am a great believer in everyone experiencing the grittier end of life even if they plan a different career path. I still think it did him good. He was so exhausted - but it gave him a better appreciation for those who do manual labour for a living. I had my fair share of those kind of experiences growing up. I'm also still nicer to shop people having been a Saturday girl!! 

When I got this new CC a couple of weeks ago - it had a very nice limit - and you were only 0% on what you spent in that first 60 days. I don't think they appreciated the 'MSE' approach of dumping anything I could think of onto that to maximise my savings / limit withdrawals. I got a warning today saying I was at 90% of my limit. Not surprising after dumping the majority of this tarmac, paver and raised bed and soil job on it. However - other than the Am***n cc I need to stop using CCs and go back to paying off spends almost immediately to stop any further rot. I also need to set up a fixed payment so that as much as possible gets cleared before the 0% ends. 

EH suggested a while ago that I add a label saying 'this is real £' to each card as a reminder. I think I'll do a range including one of my faves 'will my future self thank me for this decision.' I'll do that next - as the labeller is out as I was using it as part of my home organisation and to label xmas pressies. As soon as I get past paying for the asbestos floor - I hope to be able to freeze most of my CCs and just create a plan to pay them off. I'll need to pay the Am&&&n was as I go. 

I did get about £3.50 net from Sdr the other day which is also positive. 

LadyWithAPlan

jwil said:

That's frustrating about not being able to see your mortgage online, it should be standard these days!

savingholmes said:

My mortgage went out today so principal reduced by around £650. I should get my annual statement soon. It's annoying (and demotivating not being able to see it in an app).

May I ask who you are with so I dont go with them as I will need an app to get me fired up to pay off the mortgage monster.

Liking the label your cc's idea. 

SandyShores

Agree about the app, there's nothing more motivating for me than seeing the daily interest come down by 10p a day, or mortgage end date reducing by a month.

KajiKita

Well, I’m not sure who SavingHolmes is with but Co-0p’s visibility and access to balances etc is pretty much non existent… Apparently, I might eventually (after a month) be able to see my mortgage balance in the coop banking app … that’s it! I have five years of this!! 😢

KK

catclaires

Very good news about the job. In awe of your garden - it sounds absolutely stunning! Glad that the work is almost done.

Love the range of card labels idea! It is quite satisfying to be able to use these interest-free periods in true MSE manner and probably not (as you say) entirely as they were intended by the banks I've just done similar, safe in the knowledge I've got a robust, carefully spreadsheeted plan of paying it off before the interest kicks in - a far cry from 20+ years ago when I'd have just been adding to my debt with no plan!

savingholmes

Thanks LWAP, Sandy, KK and @catclaires

Same as KK. However - it was the best deal by far - so don't write them off entirely LWAP. You can still OP - you just have to guess the impact - unless you call them and get stuck in a queue - in which case they will tell you the balance.

It is nerve wracking having such a high CC balance after years of repaying them and getting clear - but at least my savings would cover them and leave me change - it's just the change is getting smaller by the month so have to rein it in.

I re-read my in year progress last night - and reminded myself that leaving my £ in savings is literally worth over £1K (a year) in interest while I effectively get use of the £ for free during that period. And reminded myself that I've increased my AVCs to give myself a bigger tax free lump sum - so its swings and roundabouts net worth wise. Plus I've spent more on the house than I have on the CC so maybe it's not as bad as it 'feels'. 

I drew myself a worry monster earlier. I was panicking as the ridge from the tarmac being laid in two separate parts was really obvious - and I paid them most of the £ yesterday when I should have held back. Because their 'whacker' also broke partway through laying the tarmac, part of the tarmac is loose and its not level and smooth. The son says they'll replace while the dad is still muttering about sealing and seeing. I've said sealing wouldn't work as I'd just have to paint my drive every year and the whole point was to be maintenance free. There are also uneven bits. The son says he'll convince his dad. Hopefully they will take part of it up and re-tarmac tomorrow which is a pain for everyone concerned but should give me the aesthetic I'm after. 

I turned my worry drawing into a dog with kind of bobble horns and a bubble body... I'm hoping that the drive is resolved hassle free for me and to my satisfaction tomorrow as I've paid them most of the money. I did do it on a CC though so I could dispute part of the transaction. They are due to cement back some slabs that keep the side concrete back / face it tomorrow - I've asked for them to get me some new ones that are like a charcoal colour. So that just bumped the cost up by just under £200.  But some of the previous slabs had broken either before or when they were moved and they're yellowish so that wasn't great. It's best to do it right first time than regret it later. 

The son just offered to put a floor in my shed for free too using some chip board he already has. That sounds great - so I said yes to that. It will make the space warmer and harder for vermin to get in. I have seen rats in my garden during these works as one of the bird feeders was on its side and therefore more in reach. My cat dispatches any rats / mice normally so I don't necessarily want to use poison or whatever as then I'd have to get rid of them after anyway... I'd rather limit putting bird feeders where rats can't reach. 

I may give in and order a drill and drill bits - as then it's easier to get stuff done - either by learning to do it myself or at least having the tools on hand if someone comes over with skills... I've only been debating that the entire 3 years since my divorce!!